1 Haze
by Dr Vanya
Summary: Internet journalist and UFO blogger Haze McCall arrives in a small town in Scotland to investigate recent spaceship activity. There she meets the most elusive alien of all, the Doctor.
1. Welcome to Haze

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What is Haze?

Hi truth seekers. My name is Haze McCall. This website is dedicated to seeking out the truth about extra terrestrial beings that have visited us.

I've long known that aliens are out there and visiting us, and ever since the Sycorax arrived on Christmas Day 2006 there's no way you can deny it. However we still don't know how many races are out there, and whether they come to study, help, steal from or enslave and conquer us. In a way, the answer is all of them, we have come close to invasion, and destruction a scarily large number of times.

This is where I come in. I have made it my mission to report on alien encounters within the UK (and hopefully, one day, worldwide), to find out what's out there and what they want, let let them come in peace and take them to our leaders, or to ensure that we are defended against them. Above all else I believe that you, the people need to know what is out there. There are people out there trying to cover this up, but I will not be silenced.

About Me

So who am I? Well I was born and raised in Edinburgh and... But you didn't come here for that :)

I have spent the last 5 years of my life traveling the country to chronicle alien encounters. I suppose the signs have always been there, reported alien encounters go back decades, hundreds and even thousands of years if you're prepared to look, and I have. My first encounter was in 2004. It all began when I was in Oxford. My colleagues and myself were analysing images and data from a new radio telescope. At first we thought there was something wrong with the equipment, but we found ourselves staring staring straight at a craft which was not of human origin. We only saw it form a moment, but that moment seemed to last forever. It was as if the craft had spotted us as it changed direction and dropped off our scopes. Of course there's no record of this. Men in black suits came in the following day and destroyed the data, both with us and the observatories central computer, and then tried to convince us that it wasn't real. Of course we all knew what we saw, and I was determined to find out more. After I completed my degree (worse off for the government destroying my data, thank you very much) I began to research encounters. But soon I came to realise that the records would always be incomplete, for the same reason that my own evidence was missing, and that was when I knew what I had to do. I had to make my own record, chronicle encounters no matter how big or small, get the truth out there to the people. And so that is what I do.

This story may sound crazy, but its true, all of it. Aliens have visited this planet. In some cases I have seen them and I have talked in depth with other people that have had encounters. I am not crazy or prone to exaggeration and this is not a hoax. The people I meet are not attention seeking or making fantasies to escape their own lives. Many are professional people, doctors, lawyers, teacher astronomers, many of who want to protect their identity for fear of how they will look, but still want their stories told.

About the Members Area

This is where it all happens. Sign up and you'll get:

Full access to my findings, which includes in depth analysis of every encounter I have investigated, interviews with all those involved and photos of the incident

View my blog and webcasts, giving you up to the minute information

The ability to report sightings of your own, I will try and investigate every claim I receive from members.

Monthly news letter

Access to message boards

and

The archive, the most comprehensive database of alien species available to civilians

So what are you waiting for, if you want to know what's out there join today!


	2. Haze: Part One

Haze

By Vanya

Part 1

"Just that way, love. Park wherever you can find a space. Not much room this time of year, but you should be able to squeeze in."

"Thanks."

Haze put the camper van back into gear and followed the attendant's directions, finding a spot between two similar vehicles. She adjusted her glasses and picked up her laptop to reread the messages that brought her here. Several subscribers had reported UFO sightings in Scotland, seemingly centered around this small, coastal town, half way between Edinburgh and Dundee. As a native of Edinburgh, this gave the case a little extra appeal, and it was certainly preferable to yet another report of paranormal activity on the streets of Cardiff. The messages all said nearly the same thing, sightings, but no landings, reports of alien encounters or abductions. Not much to go on, although one loyal subscriber, identifying themselves as Dr. Impossible, claimed to be able to offer more, but not until the next day. _Well then_ she thought, _time to meet the locals. _She closed the laptop and stashed it safely in the back. Before leaving the stepped into the tiny bathroom to check her appearance. She quickly ran a brush through her long, purple hair and straightened he clothing as best she could. The jeans and t-shirt were already charity shop items, the only luxury she really allowed herself was the hair dye, and even that was something she was going to have to start to cut back on unless the subscriptions picked up. Right now this seemed unlikely, this particular case didn't seem to be one of national importance, she needed a case with attention, but where only she had the full story, and these came up very rarely. After a moment she stopped that train of thought and decided she was satisfied with how she looked and it was time to leave. She gathered up what she would need for the evening, money, keys, phone and a small MP3 recorder. After locking up the camper she strode off into the night.

--

It wasn't a particularly large town, but was currently in the grip of summer tourism. Every year crowds of hikers and outdoor enthusiast would descended upon it and take things over. For now though everything was quiet. It was a Sunday night, all the walkers were back and the campers were still out and those who were leaving had left. The town itself was generally considered quiet and dull by the locals but was endlessly fascinating to outsiders, the further away they lived the more they loved it. Although she had never been here before Haze had been to numerous towns like it all over the UK throughout her childhood. While each town was unique they were all united by common features, such as takeaways, pubs and outdoor shops, and right now Haze was looking for a pub.

Talking to the locals was usually the best way to get information, even in the current climate most people would not report something like a UFO sighting, and those that were reported were plagued with pranks and hoaxes. However a few well placed questions could reveal a lot. Haze walked through the town and selected and an unassuming 'local' pub, avoiding the trendy bars opened specifically for the tourists. It was reasonably quite inside, just the regular Sunday night crowd. The barman stood idly behind the bar, a pair of older gentlemen played chess, a group of younger guys lounged on of the sofas, the middle aged regulars were dotted all over and a man in a long brown coat wandered around trying to engage people in conversation.

"Bacardi and Coke please." Haze smiled pleasantly as she stepped up to the bar.

The barman obliged, "So what brings you to our little town, you don't look like one of the hiking crowd."

"You're right, I'm a journalist actually. I'm here investigating some interesting reports in the area, some _sightings_." friendly, but to the point.

The barman let out a disapproving grunt. "I don't hold with that kind of nonsense myself, not round here. After everything that's happened far too many people are crying aliens. But you wouldn't be the first to come in here tonight asking about it."

"Oh really, who else?"

The barman indicated to the man in the long coat "He came in here, asking questions, irritating my regulars, didn't even buy a drink. I'm thinking I should throw him out."

"No, I wouldn't if I were you, I think I'll have a chat with him," she looked over at the stranger "I'd say he looks like a scotch drinker."

--

"Care for a drink?"

The man in the long coat spun round to find a glass of inexpensive scotch being waved under his nose. Haze's arm stretched up to compensate for the height difference, the top of her head not even reaching his chin.

"No thank you, I don't, not after last time. Ended badly for all those involved!"

"Well how about a chat about extra terrestrial life then?"

He had begun to turn away, but with that statement he spun back enthusiastically, a wide grin spread across his face. He quickly selected an empty table at the back and the two of them sat down. Haze placed the whiskey in front on him.

"Just for show," she explained "The barman was getting a little upset that you weren't drinking."

"Of course, thank you. Now where were we, something about extra terrestrials?"

"Slow down there, we're not in a hurry, lets get to know each other a little first. Haze McCall." She extended he arm towards the stranger.

"Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor," he extended his own and and they shook "Haze, bit of an unusual name that."

"Short of Hazel, but sounds a bit cooler. So, Doctor, doctor what?"

"Just the Doctor"

"And you say I have an unusual name" she laughed, trying to appear calm and oblivious, but inside she couldn't believe she'd found him. "So, what are you, Mi5?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well if I'd say you're with an agency, but UNIT and Torchwood aren't so blatant with their code names" she she leaned forward, _will he take the hint_?

"Yes, you're absolutely right, Mi5 agent right here." he quickly flashed some credentials.

_Yes_, she had him. "So Mi5 have a _secret_ devision looking for aliens?"

The Doctor paused for a second, looked at the paper, then simply replied "Yes." then quickly changed the subject "So, you know about Torchwood? They're supposed to be secret."

"Have you ever been to Cardiff? Captain Jack and his crew aren't exactly subtle."

"Ah, you know Jack?"

"By reputation only, but it sounds like you do you do? I though Torchwood weren't exactly in favor with your lot."

"They're not, huge inter-agency rivalries, we play cricket occasionally. Jack's rubbish though, no idea how to hold a cricket bat. We were talking about aliens?"

"We were indeed. I've been getting messages about UFO sightings around here. It all seems real, but the odd thing is there's nothing more. No landings or encounters. What do you have?"

"Same, can't even get a make or model on the ships, it's all very odd. Locals are very unhelpful too."

"They probably don't take to kindly to you people."

"My people?"

"Government agents."

"Ah, yes. So what do we do now Haze McCall?"

"Well Doctor, I do have a source I can talk to, one of the people who reported the sightings. I've arranged to meet him tomorrow. I might even let you tag along."

There followed a stunned silence. Finally, in a surprised voice the Doctor said "Might let me tag along?"

"Maybe, as long as you don't make me sign the official secrets act or censor me in any way. The people have a right to know what's going on here."

"Your absolutely right, and don't worry about me, I'm not one stand in the way of the truth. Big fan of truth actually."

"Don't your superiors object to that?"

"Don't really have superiors as such, just do my own thing, better results that way."

"Partner?"

"Not any more," there was a long pause, "I'm sort of between partners right now."

"OK then Doctor, consider us officially teamed up. My friend lives a little out of town, where shall I pick you up from tomorrow, where are you staying?"

"I'm not really 'staying' anywhere."

"Well in that case, I would recommend you come back with me, that way we can head out first thing in the morning."

"No, I don't think..."

"Nonsense, come on."

And with the she took the Doctors arm led him out of the pub, leaving his whiskey untouched on the table.

--

As they walked back to the caravan park the conversation was directed more at Haze. She explained about he website and her mission. The Doctor listened eagerly, taking a genuine interest in her and her experiences. She told him all about her first sighting of an alien spaceship and the resulting cover up. Soon that were talking and laughing like they had known each other for years, swapping stories of extraterrestrial encounters and reflecting on the occasions when they must have just missed each other. Haze even told the story of her most embarrassing encounter in her search for alien life. "So I was investigating some cases of crop circles in Yorkshire," she explained, "Some locals had contacted me, but the farmer himself was a skeptic, this was early on in my career and the world still hadn't seen definitive proof of aliens. He was convinced is was just a human prank and wasn't having any talks of spaceships and so he dismissed me straight off. So I took to staking out the property hoping to see something. Well it's the end of the third night, about 5 in the morning by this point, and I'm still sat out in his field still waiting for something to happen. There was some kind of noise, I think it was some kind of alarm, it certainly wasn't aliens, but it was enough to make the farmer come out and investigate. At this point I'm _technically_ trespassing so I decide it's time to make a quick exit. He sees me, and assumes I'm part of the disturbance, so he starts running at me. I run and try to vault the fence, but missed and my leg gets caught in the barbed wire. He's getting closer, so rather than take to time to untangle myself I just slip out of my jeans"

"Oh no!" the exclamation as partly genuine concern, but mostly amusement.

"I was able to reclaim my sandals, but the jeans were gone. So I'm running around in my knickers and right behind me is this irate farmer who's screaming blue murder! Fortunately I was able to loose him in the woods, I can be pretty quick on my feet when I have to. Needless to say I shipped out as soon as I could, I'm just glad I didn't meet anyone on my way back to the camper, I could have died of embarrassment." She started to laugh in memory of the story. Soon the two of them were giggling at Haze's loss of dignity.

"You know, I never did find out what was really happening there." she added once the amusement had died down.

"Would it make you feel any better if I told you that crop circles are never aliens, always hoaxes, usually perpetrated by two blokes with a plank of wood and some string?"

"No, that makes things worse, it means I flashed my pants for nothing."

--

Soon they had arrived back at Haze's camper van. The Doctor stepped inside and looked round the cramped space. "Amazing," he exclaimed, "it's actually _smaller_ on the inside."

Haze laughed "Yes, it's like that. Would you like anything, tea, coffee?"

"Cup of tea would be lovely than you."

"Right kettle's there, tea bags are in that cupboard. I'm just going up front to check for messages." Haze headed for the door, "Oh and I'll have a cup while you're at it."

For the second time that evening the Doctor was lost for words.

Haze sat in the passengers seat and flicked on her laptop, the internet was going to love this. She pulled up her own site and began to type.

**Blog entry no. 274**

I have arrived and set up camp. Talking to the locals has not revealed much but that doesn't matter, in fact these sighting are almost secondary compared to what I have found. While in the town I met a man who identified himself as the Doctor. I'm sure a large number of just spat out your coffee in shock when you read that, for those who didn't I suggest you check out entry #63 in the archive. He is a younger variation, short brown hair and favoring a blue suit and long brown coat, consistent with most recent reports of him. He is also traveling alone, which is quite unusual. He carries Mi5 credentials, although I have serious doubts about their authenticity, implying he is not here due to his affiliation with UNIT or any other agency. For now I'm going along with the Mi5 story, not to give away how much I know about him. I've invited him to join me when I meet 'Dr. Impossible' tomorrow. It should be fascinating to see him at work. But here's the really exciting part. Not only have I met the Doctor, but I have brought him home, he's sitting in the back of my camper van, making a cup of tea, as I write this. So if you will excuse me, I think I will join him.

Bye bye for now

Haze

--

Haze uploaded the entry, her subscribers were going to to get very excited about this, the Doctor was something of a legend among alien fanatics. She glanced down at her digital camera, maybe she could get a shot of the Doctor, a confirmed encounter with such a well known visitor could boost subscriptions. It certainly couldn't hurt, plus the archive could use an reliable, up to date photo. As she reached for the 'shut down' command the laptop, along with the overhead light went off. The darkness was only momentary, a light appeared outside, dim and far away at first, but quickly grew brighter and closer, accompanied by a low rumble. Haze fumbled for a second with her digital camera, but when it refused to turn on she grabbed a chunkier, film camera from the glove compartment and dived outside of the van. Many of the other guests of the caravan park had gathered outside, the Doctor too, cup of tea in one hand, was staring up at the light with a serious expression on his face. Haze quickly snapped a picture of the floating light, too bright to make out any kind of shape. As quickly as it arrived the light sped off towards the sea following a downward arc until it disappeared out of sight over the edge of the cliff, a picture snapped for every stage. Everything was silent for a moment, followed by technology whirring back to life and a surprised murmur running through the crowd. Above it all she heard one clear voice.

"Well Haze McCall, do you want to just stand around, or do you want to see where it went?" the Doctor was grinning an excited grin.

Haze returned the smile "Let's go Doctor!"

The Doctor downed the tea in a single gulp and discarded the cup on the grass as the two of them sprinted off into the distance.

End of part 1


	3. Haze Archive 63: The Doctor

**The Haze Archive**

Entry #63 The Doctor

Species: Unknown Humanoid

'The Doctor' is perhaps the most fascinating entry in the Archive, mostly because of his enigmatic nature. Although his appearance is human I am reasonably certain he is not, although even this is open to debate. Sightings of this man have occurred over a vast time period, suggesting a long life span or the ability to travel in time, perhaps both. A wide variety of appearances have been reported ranging from old to young and a lot of different hair and dress styles. These 'variations' (for lack of a better word) fall vaguely into time periods, although are not restricted to them. The highest frequency of sightings occurring between the early 60's and late 80's, although in recent years sightings have peaked again. The latest sightings, 2007 onwards, portray him as a younger man with short hair, sideburns and a wearing a suit. He is usually accompanied by an assistant, most of whom seem to be members of the public rather than having been recruited for any particular skill set. These companions change with a higher frequency than the Doctor's appearance.

The question as to whether these 'Doctors' are the same person, with the ability to adopt different forms, or a race who use the same name and work towards a mutual goal, remains to be seen.

Overall the Doctor's/ Doctors' goals appear to be benevolent, however sighting of him do tend to coincide with attacks and disasters. Some feel that his intentions may be sinister, but I feel is is drawn to these events and has a desire to make things right. Indeed he may be out greatest ally in the battle against alien threats. There are times when he seems to be affiliated with UNIT, but mostly he seems to be working independently of any higher authority, there may not even be a higher authority as far as he is concerned.

Although he tries to work inconspicuously he has attracted attention over the years. Clive Finch became one authority on the Doctor, even if I question his conclusions. However he was killed in an alien attach in 2005, but his findings can still be found at:

Another group to take an interest was LInDA (London Investigation 'n' Detective Agency). However they were short lived and all but one member have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The one surviving member, who asked to remain nameless, refused to comment on these incidents.

Like all aliens the internet is plagued with false reports as well as hoaxes and imitators, so I have focused my reports on eye witness accounts, which has left me short of a reliable or consistent description or picture.

Personally I would love to meet the Doctor, to find out what makes him tick, but I have yet to encounter him. He is not a man you can find, he has to find you, whether he is looking or not.

In conclusion, he needs further study.

For more details on activities and individual variations check out the encounters section.


	4. Haze: Part Two

Haze

By Vanya

Part 2

The pair ran towards the cliff side where the craft had disappeared, each nimbly hopping the fence to get to the edge. As they approached Haze had expected the run to been in vain, that the craft would be long gone. But it was there, hovering a few meters above the water. The light from the ship was now focused downwards. It moved quickly, darting back and forth getting progressively further away from the shore.

"Search pattern," muttered the Doctor, "They're looking for something."

"But what?" Haze only had half her attention the Doctor, the other half was firmly on the ship, still snapping as may pictures as the camera would allow. She'd been in such a hurry to chase the ship that she'd forgotten to go back for her hi-res digital camera and so was stuck with the more low tech option.

"No idea." admitted the Doctor, but he proceeded to produce a silver, tubular device with a bright blue glowing end. He held the device out arms length pointing it at the spacecraft.

"What are you doing?" the ship had gotten to far away for any more photos, so Haze had turned full attention to the Doctor.

"Scanning for energy signatures, this is the closest I've got to one of these ships and I want to see if I can get a reading."

Haze nodded, she understood what he was saying, but he was talking about technology which was advance beyond her field of expertise and so couldn't think of a response. Instead she subtly raised the camera used the last photo on the film to capture the Doctor in action. He seemed not to notice, still fixated on his device. After another minute or two he seemed satisfied that he had all the evidence he could get from the crime scene and the two of them walked wordlessly back to the camp sight as the ship disappeared back into the sky.

--

They settled down back inside the camper van, sitting across from each other at the little table. The kettle had once again been boiled and the Doctor sat with a fresh cup of tea in front of him.

"So tell me Doctor, what did you find?"

"Well I've analysed the energy signature from the ship, and that hasn't revealed anything useful, it's a pretty standard signature used by hundreds of ships in the known universe, and that's... I'm sorry, do you have to eat that?"

"What's wrong with it?" inquired Haze, looking up from her imitation Pot Noodle.

"It's barely classified as food! When humanity enters the wider universe those will be one of their most infamous contributions. They're banned on over a hundred civilised worlds, they were believed to be the primary cause of the uprising of the laborers on Teerstkin 7. Any species in the universe is capable of making weapons and creating pollution, but only humans are capable of creating freeze dried snacks with anything resembling nutrition removed. They..." He restrained himself before he lost control completely.

There was a moments silence, then Haze proceeded to consume the remaining contents of the pot and dropped it into a nearby bin.

"There, the bad noodles won't bother you any more. Feel better?"

"Not really. But as I was saying, the most unusual thing here is that there is nothing special about any of it. Well nothing more than the fact that there are spaceships flying around over Scotland anyway"

"I don't follow."

"Someone is going to great lengths not to attract any attention beyond the average UFO sighting. You see aliens, come to Earth all the time, most UFO sightings are a form of tourism, the Torchwood office in Glasgow probably clocked them as soon as they came in and dismissed them just as quickly because thats all they appear to be. And they haven't done anything to make the authorities suspect otherwise, as long as they don't start abducting people or mutilating cattle they can carry on unhindered. More importantly they have ensured they have left no clues as to who they are or where they're from, meaning that this is very secret, and possibly very dangerous."

This piqued Haze's interest, more than meets the eye always made for good reading as did 'secret' and 'dangerous', low key however did not.

"So what do you think they really want?"

"Hard to say at this point, all I know is that they're looking for something and whatever it is they think it's in the sea. Other that that I really don't know"

"Well then, it looks like the best way forward is still Dr Impossible."

"I'm sorry, did you just say 'Dr Impossible'?"

"Yes, he's my contact. Why, does the name ring a bell?"

"No, just sounds a little pretentious that's all."

"And this coming from a man calling himself 'the Doctor'."

"But I _am_ the Doctor."

"I know." There was a brief pause, "Anyway, Dr Impossible is just an online name, people use them to protect their identity. People still seem to think you're mad if you just start babbling about aliens, unless there are giant space ships hovering in the sky or Daleks on the streets of London people still refuse to believe. You'd be amazed at how many sightings get written off as hoaxes or paranoia." he was not, humanity always had a capacity for ignoring the obvious.

"But this way he gets to report and to keep his dignity. Plus it can get you attention from the wrong sort of people."

"But you're going to meet him," countered the Doctor, "So obviously you're going to learn who he really is."

"I'm discreet," she responded with a smile, "That's what they love about me. Plus I'm the only one doing what I do, everything else is done by agencies and they're more interested in keeping things quiet. With me they will learn the truth."

Her words hung in the air for a moment.

"Our meetings arranged for 6 o'clock, out doctor friend is clearly an early riser so we leave at first light. So if you don't mind I'm going to bed. Blankets are in that cupboard and you get the floor. Good night Doctor."

--

The Doctor sat bolt upright has a high pitched ringing roused him. It took him a moment to get his bearings and realise that it was the sound of an alarm clock, albeit a particularly loud and piercing one. Glancing down at his wristwatch he noted that it was just after 5am. He thought back to the night before. How had this girl convinced him to sleep on the floor of a camper van? She was going to be trouble he thought to himself, but she certainly made things more interesting, maybe even fun. He got to his feet and moved over to the van's one bed where Haze lay, a shapeless lump. As the alarm continued to shriek he reached over to shake the girl awake, and dived backwards to avoid the arm which shot out of nowhere trying to hit him. Haze rolled over and opened her eyes. "Sorry Doctor," she muttered, "Not really a morning person. Can you get the alarm?" and with that she rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a dull thud.

The Doctor looked around for a moment trying to find the source of the noise, but in the dark in an unfamiliar environment this proved surprisingly difficult. Instead he produced his sonic screwdriver and pointed it in the vague direction of the sound and was satisfied when it went quiet.

Haze had got to her feet and had shuffled into the kitchen area and had boiled the kettle. As she wondered around the Doctor noted that he's seen walking corpses that displayed more life than this girl. He mentioned it to her, and she responded with a grunt, but he was unable to tell if it was protest or agreement. Yet she was methodically going round the kitchen preparing coffee with her eyes barely open. She sat down and quickly consumed the first cup of strong coffee, black, no sugar, before stumbling into the bathroom. Unsure what else to do the Doctor entered the kitchen and began to boil the kettle again for his own drink. Several minutes passed and when Haze returned to the kitchen the change was remarkable. She now appeared fully awake and alert, and was dressed in the same jeans as the night before, a fresh blue top and a pair of sports sandals, several years out of season. She picked up her glasses from the sideboard where they had been left and put them on, before picking up the second cup she had made. Then she turned to the Doctor and smiled.

"Caffeine, only thing that gets me up in the morning. Now, lets find the other doctor."

--

Haze sat in the drivers seat with the Doctor next to her as she drove out of the campsite. She loved her camper van, it functioned as both her home and her primary mode of transportation and she'd had it since the beginning of her mission. It was getting on in years and had a tendency to break down at awkward moments, but was an essential tool to her lifestyle. She had to admit that she had grown used to its quirks and even though it was nearing the end of its life she wasn't ready to trade up just yet. Aided by nothing more than willpower the camper made the half hour drive to a small village, just outside of the town to the address she had been given.

The village had grown to serve the purposes of the better off members of the community as well as providing holiday homes, so expensive houses lined both sides of the road. Once the camper was parked Haze and the Doctor approached the house. The door was answered by a man in his late forties with thinning hair, pale blue eyes and a high quality suit, although currently lacking a tie.

"Haze?" he inquired, "Haze McCall?"

She nodded. "And you would be Dr. Impossible?"

He nodded and ushered then in. "Dave McKenzie," he said offering out his hand, "May as well dispense with the user names now we're face to face. I'm really a doctor by the way."

"I'm sure you are, what's your specialty?" asked the Doctor, shaking his hand.

"GP, I'm sorry, who are you? Are you the..."

But he was cut off by Haze."He's an expert," she injected quickly, still not wanting to show how much she knew about him, "I found him in town last night, I thought he could help, offer some fresh perspective and such."

"Of course, thank you," responded the man now identified as Dave, catching on to what was happening "Now if you will all join me in the living room I'd like to go through things from the top."

--

All three took their seats on the comfortable furniture. Haze produced her digital voice recorder and placed in on the coffee table in the center of the room.

"Haze: Case no. 127," she spoke slowly and clearly for the benefit of the recorder, "With me is website subscriber no. 6, user name 'Dr. Impossible' who is the subject of the interview. I am joined by an observer. Dr Impossible has invited us here as he is able to tell us more about the current sightings. Dr Impossible, if you please."

"OK, thank you. I want to start out by saying that I am a lifelong believer in UFOs and aliens, and for me it all started here, in this town. I love this town, I've lived here all my life, my parents are from here, everyone I know here. I left for a few years to study medicine, but I always knew I would come back. I..."

Haze cleared her throat, signaling for the doctor to get a move on.

"Sorry, but my story does start many years ago, I was ten years old at the time, I remember it well. This was always a quiet town, never what you'd call a hot spot of alien activity. But one day something changed. It started with lights in the sky. Back then people dismissed them, tried to explain them away rationally, but I dared to believe. Maybe it was that I wanted it to be true but I alone remained firmly convinced that there were aliens visiting us. This went on for several nights, and then came the most incredible thing I've seen in my whole life. I had taken to sneaking out of the house at night and going out to the cliff side to watch the lights, I lived in the town in those days. They would usually just dance around in the sky for a while, but it was beautiful. But one night things changed. The lights got closer, bigger, and for the first time in my life I saw an alien spaceship. It was dark and I was on my own with no way of recording it but I know what I saw. It was a few miles off shore, it kept getting lower until it had immersed itself completely in the water. The sea glowed for a second, and then it was gone. I must have stayed there for hours, just watching the spot where it went down. When it started to get light I headed home, it was a miracle my parents never noticed I was gone. I've never told anyone about this before. For years after I thought about going out to look for it, I don't know why I didn't, I suppose I wanted to hold onto the memory."

"I think they're connected, that ship coming down all those years and the ones of late. They seem to be following the same patter, it starts out as lights in the sky and then they get closer and closer, I heard there was a full blown sighting last night."

"I know," the Doctor spoke up for the first time since the interview had started, "We were right in the middle of it. The ship we saw was definitely searching for something, and now I'd guess it would be your ship from back then. Since it's been inactive for more than thirty years they can't pick up an energy reading, which means they're looking for it the old fashioned way, one square at a time."

"Which gives us the advantage, because we now know where exactly it came down. Dr. Impossible, care to draw us a map?" Haze added excitedly.

The doctor obliged, marking the position from where he watched onto a coastal map as well as indicating where he believed the craft came down. The Doctor stared at it for a second, committing every curve and contour to memory before passing it over to Haze who pocketed it.

"Is that everything you know doctor?"

"It is, I never saw the ship again, and until recently there were no more lights."

"Thank you very much Dr Impossible," and then to the recorder, "Interview concludes."

--

After they finished Dr. McKenzie left for the surgery where he was based. The Doctor leaned against the side of the camper van while Haze stood over the engine trying to work out why it wouldn't start.

"So tell me Doctor, what's our next move?"

"At this rate the nearest garage!" he replied with a chuckle, for which Haze shot him a dirty look.

"OK, so we know what they're looking for and where it is, but we still don't know who they are, so that's something we need to establish."

"And how do you propose we do that?" With this statement she thumped the inside of the engine in frustration."

"I do have one idea. Do you want me to give you a hand with that?"

"Go for it," she was ready to admit defeat, and she usually knew the quirks of her van, but this time it was truly dead, "So what's your plan?"

Haze stepped back and the Doctor took her place in front of the engine.

"Take a look at the map Dr. McKenzie, sorry, Dr. Impossible gave you."

She wiped the worst of the engine grease off onto her jeans and took out the map the other doctor had given her.

"OK, what am I looking for?"

"Well you see where he thinks the ship is, well compare that to where we saw our ship last night."

"It was reasonably close."

"Exactly! Given the size and shape of the search quadrant and assuming they're moving north to south, which they must be since they haven't fount it yet, then the next search will uncover it. And I think we need to be there."

"That's tonight taken care of, so what about the rest of the day?"

"Anything you like!" The Doctor had produced the sonic screwdriver and was pointing it at tactical parts of the engine, which roared back to life with the last statement.

The two of them drove back towards the town. As they passed an old, rundown church the Doctor suddenly piped up.

"If you could just drop me out here that would be grand."

"But there's nothing here."

"Trust me. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning you. I'll meet you back at the camp sight at 9 o'clock and we can check out that landing sight together, but for now there's something I need to do by

myself."

He stepped out of the van and walked up the path, though the rusted gate and round the back of the church. It was overgrown, but one thing stood out amongst all the plant life, a blue wooden box. As the Doctor stepped inside Haze continued on her journey alone.

--

Haze returned to the camp sight. Her first order of business was to transcribe the report from the day's interview and upload it to the section on her current investigation. She'd also received a message reporting the previous nights UFO activity. She smiled to herself, perhaps one of the other campers was a subscriber, she wondered if they knew she was here, in this camp sight. Probably not. Once that was taken care of she researched the town, widening her search to include almost anything from local folklore to any colourful characters who may not be from 'around here'. She had started to yield some interesting results, but by this time the caffeine had worn off and the sleep deprivation was kicking in. So with all her data safely stored she darkened the camper and lay down to catch up on some sleep.

--

Meanwhile

The Doctor stepped inside the TARDIS armed with a new sense of determination, and more importantly, a new set of coordinates. He strode over the the main control console and started calibrating for his first destination, which consisted of a combination of fine tuning and hitting it until it worked. The roaring and wheezing sound and the movement of the central column showed that it was working as the ship disappeared from its hiding place in the church yard and reappeared at its new destination. Flipping a switch under the main panel as he went the Doctor walked up to the doors and pulled them open. He was greeted with a wall of water. _Good _he though _at least I got that part right_. Visibility through the sea was limited, but he could see far enough, straight in front of him was perfectly preserved spacecraft. It was disc shaped in a dull metallic gray, although a variety of marine plant life had made it their home. A series of 'bumps' underneath held a variety of equipment associated with the sensors and beaming technologies. Satisfied the Doctor closed the door and and deactivated the filter. "For my next trick..." he began, before remembering that he was alone. Wordlessly he continued entering the coordinates for the second jump. He opened the doors again, this time stepping out into the central room of the craft. He was surrounded on all sides by computers and equipment, several doors led off to the crew quarters and research station and a moving platform gave access to the transportation chamber below. A central column contained the ship's heart, the drive that enabled faster than light travel. The doctor looked around, trying to see what would work. The basic system such as lights and life support were on one circuit powered by one low yield power source, but one an almost infinite lifespan. The computers had a second power supply, but a closer inspection revealed that this had been remove and the central core had been gutted, and so could tell him nothing. Fortunately they had not been foolish to tamper with the drive, although it had been inactive for so long it emitted only the smallest amount of background radiation. Without access to the computers the Doctor was still unable to learn the important answers as to where the ship came from, it was a standard model which could be used by any of a hundred species. He reflected again on how whoever was behind this was desperately trying not to leave any identifying markers. And it still left the burning question, why? Why had they come, why abandon the ship and who was looking for them? A rescue party, or something more sinister? The only way to get these answers was a face to face encounter with the searchers. He stepped back aboard the TARDIS and once again began to set the coordinates. He wanted to meet these aliens, whoever they were and he wanted Haze to be with him when it happened. She may be a handful and a little bit cheeky, but she was unfazed by the appearance of aliens, in fact she sought it out and relished it. She was certainly better prepared for the encounter than other companions of recent years. Thinking back he realised that things were more fun when he had someone to share his adventures with, but would he allow himself to put another innocent civilian in harms way? Throughout his many years there had been so many tragic endings for those who traveled with him. There were those who had left, sometimes of their own free will and sometimes not, because what traveling with him had done to them, there were those who had died, each one still weighing heavily on the Doctor's conscience. But there were so many others who were alive and had achieved great things, and that's what he saw in Haze, a curiosity and confidence which held much potential for greatness. He also had to admit he wouldn't have even found the ship if she hadn't shown him where to look, he needed to see this through with her, he owed her that much. Finally he decided that someone like Haze would join him on the TARDIS, whether he invited her or not, so he'd better get used to the idea of having her around. And he did enjoy this little game they seemed to be playing. He selected a landing sight in the woods behind he camp and set the local time for 20:50. For the third time that day he shifted the TARDIS.

--

It was 21:00 and Haze waited. Feeling refreshed from her earlier nap she had continued her research and had even found time for a run before it reached the time of the meeting A knock on the door signaled the Doctor's arrival and leapt up to answer.

"Good evening Haze McCall," he greeted her cheerfully, "Are you ready to look for a spaceship?"

"I certainly am Doctor, I've even arranged us some transportation."

"Oh?"

"Late night fishing trip, I've booked us on and we leave in half an hour. Would you mind covering this one, it's just that I'm a little strapped for cash right now?"

The Doctor laughed, "Of course, now, lets get going."

They walked across the edge of the town. The Doctor acquired the funds they needed through a little sonic trickery on a cash point. "It's not technically stealing," he explained, "I'm just tapping into certain 'expense' accounts, they won't even notice it's gone." This was all fine with Haze, who felt the government owed her anyway. They reached the pier and found their boatman, a rough looking but friendly fisherman named Douglass who made more from taking tourists out at odd hours than her ever did from actually catching fish. The Doctor directed them to the spot where the ship was submerged and soon all three of them were sitting out in the open water, waiting.

"So what are you hoping to catch?" inquired the fisherman.

"We're not really here for the fish." admitted the Doctor.

"We're looking for something a little, higher." Added Haze, pointing up at the sky.

Douglass laughed. "If I'd realised there was money in UFO spotting then I would have opened for business a long time ago. Although in the last few weeks folk do seem to getting quite excited. Maybe..."

As he spoke a light in the sky approached them fast. Increasingly large ripples ran across the surface of the water and the whole boat began to shake. The electric light and on board navigation system cut out along with the engine. All three passengers shielded their eyes as a disc shaped craft, identical to the one below them hovered over head. The light from the ship intensified and then went dark, leaving behind it an empty boat, just floating on the water.

End of Part 2


	5. Haze: Part Three

Haze

By Vanya

Part 3

Haze opened her eyes to find herself lying on the cold hard floor of a circular chamber made from a polished black metal. The Doctor methodically paced the room and Douglass lay sprawled out on the floor, unmoving. Haze groaned and tried to get to her feet and the Doctor rushed over to help her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked sympathetically.

"Like I just drank half a pint of Baileys on an empty stomach." she replied groggily.

"It's a side effect of the beaming technology. First times always the worst, you're doing very well though. It hits you harder the bigger you are, our friend Douglass will probably be out for hours."

He had helped her to her feet, stooping low to support her. After a minute or two Haze was able to regain her balance and her composure. With one arm round the Doctor she used her other one to remove her voice recorder from her pocket, switch it on then tucked it into the waistband of her jeans.

"So, what happened Doctor?"

"They came in looking for the ship, saw us and beamed us on board, just as I though they would. Of course right now they think we're just a little group of humans without the slightest clue as to what's really going on. Ready to prove them wrong?"

Haze was still a little woozy, but could at least see and walk in a a straight line. "Lets go," she said with a grin, "But how do you propose we get out of here?"

"I've got it covered." he replied, leading her leading her to the edge of the chamber. Once again he produced his sonic screwdriver and pointed it up towards the ceiling. A disc shaped section lowered down in to the chamber, the Doctor and Haze stepped and as it raised back into place.

--

The platform clicked back into place and Haze looked around the central control room. In all her years of looking for aliens this was her first abduction experience, and despite everything she knew she should be feeling she was excited, and with the Doctor by her side she was confident things would go well. The interior of the ship was identical to the one currently sitting on the sea bed, but this one was fully functional. The computers were up and running, the drive was active and the console were manned. Haze was shocked to see the aliens in charge, they looked so...

"Human?" she had planned to stay quite, but the word slipped out in surprise.

"Not quite." replied the Doctor, as the operators turned round and for the first time noticed that their prisoners weren't where they were supposed to be. They did appear human, although with a paler skin tone and much taller, towering over even the Doctor, and had head which were devoid of a single follicle of hair. The two who were controlling the ship were each dressed in almost identical white jump suits, with exposed circuitry which started at the base of the neck and blossomed out down both arms and across their gloved hands. As they walked across the control room the control panels lit up in response to the slightest touch.

"We are not human," the one who spoke had a red stripe across his uniform, which Haze assumed signified leadership, his voice was deep and commanding, "We are Ka-Tor."

"Ka-Tor! Of course," the Doctor was kicking himself with that last revelation. "You require similar atmosphere, look human, well vaguely human at any rate, your reliance on Naglairien technology, your..."

"Where we acquire our technology is none of your concern. But what of you, our records show that humans should not be aware of our existence? Just who are you to talk with authorities on such matters?"

"I'm the Doctor and this is, Haze McCall, say hello to the nice Ka-Tor Haze."

"Hi there." she smiled pleasantly.

"And the man who is down below, who should be waking up any minute by the way, is Douglass, didn't get his last name though. He's just a fisherman, not really aware of what's going on up here. Us on the other hand know quite a bit, much more than the average human. We even know about the other ship, the one directly below us."

"And what about you?" she took her courage from the Doctor and addressed the Ka-Tor leader directly, "Lets make this a proper introduction shall we?"

"I am General Zem of Ka-Tor Prime. I am Chief of Intergalactic Security for our benevolent leader Lord Jix. This is my second in command Sargent Kiz."

"Nice to meet you," Haze held out her had, but the general failed to acknowledge it, "Any more of you?"

"Two more of our number our in the chambers behind me, two explore the ship below us."

"Aaah, crew of six," the Doctor seemed genuinely touched by this, "Six is the perfect number for a crew don't you think?"

"Yes," Zem's response was devoid of the emotion the Doctor was hoping for.

"So what brings you to Earth?" inquired Haze, breaking the silence.

"We seek our wayward brothers. They left our world many years ago to escape their civic duties, we simply wish to return them home to face appropriate action. This has been made worse by the fact that they came here, you see settling on a less technologically advanced world violates our highest of laws. We shouldn't even be talking to you, but it would seem that you sought us out."

"Well then, it would seem that you need our help." the Doctor spun to face Haze, shocked at how readily she had volunteered to assist.

Zem however was skeptical, "Really? How so?"

"It would appear that you want to find your 'brothers' with minimal interference with the human populations. Now I find aliens, it's what I do, and I certainly don't want my planet paying host to interplanetary squatters, the draft dodgers of the stars. So it would appear that me and my friend here are the best chance of you finding them without violating too many laws."

Zem couldn't argue with that logic. A deal was struck and Haze was given a device with which to communicate with the ship. The Doctor reluctantly went along with the plan as the two of them were escorted back to the transportation chamber. Douglass had just started to come round and was moaning like a man with a hangover. Once all three were alone the camber was immersed in a brilliant white light and then stood empty.

--

In theory the second transport shouldn't have been as bad. However in practice taking your second trip via beaming technology so quickly after your first can be a very disorientating experience. Haze managed to remain conscious this time, which probably made things worse for her. She was down on all fours, her hands digging into the ground with the world spinning around her as she gasped for air. It took all her willpower and concentration just to stay rooted to the spot. Douglass had fared much worse, lying on his back trying desperately not to vomit. The Doctor was the only one to have survived the trip without any difficulties. He was looking out to sea, as the ship that had deposited them few off out of the atmosphere. As the world around her began to spin less violently Haze began to notice two things. The first was that it was almost dawn, loss of time was quite common in alien encounters, although she dreaded to think about how much had been lost through beaming. The second was that a small crowd of onlookers was approaching from the direction of the town. She was able to make out the face of Dave McKenzie, he smiled encouragingly at her although he did nothing to draw any attention to himself, choosing to stand near the back. One guy from the crowd had come forward and knelt next to her.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

Haze nodded, still not up to speaking.

"Can you stand?"

Again she nodded and was helped to her feet by the stranger.

"Thank you," the words were strangled, but at lest she was improving.

"No worries, it's an honor. I can't believe I'm standing here with Haze McCall!"

Haze's head was still spinning, and so she could only muster a blank look.

"Sorry, should have introduced myself, I'm Greg."

Another blank look.

Greg glanced around the crowd then leaned in and whispered in her ear "DæmonSpotter87."

Suddenly things clicked into place. He was the user that had reported the previous nights sightings. With one arm round her shoulders he escorted her across the field and they sat down on a nearby bench. A few more minutes passed and Haze felt recovered enough to face the crowd.

"I'm fine." It seemed a good place to start.

"What happened?" a womans voice rang out over the general murmurings of the crowd.

"We were out on a boat, late night fishing, there was a bright flash of light and then..." her journalist instincts were kicking in again, she wasn't ready to share this story until she had all the facts straight, and certainly not with the general public. "... and then I was here. I really can't remember anything else, I'm sorry."

With a little help from Greg the crowd dispersed, leaving the two of them alone on the bench. The Doctor still stood by the cliff edge and Douglass had not yet recovered the energy to move.

"Is that him?" Greg gestured over to the cliff side, and then lowered his voice, "Is that the Doctor?"

Haze nodded, "It's really him."

"Wow, so what really happened up there? You're not really suffering from memory loss are you?"

"No, not really," she admitted, "But I'm still making sense of everything that's going on. When I do you'll be the first to know."

"Thank you, if there's anything I can do to help in the meantime?"

"Actually there is," they both jumped, neither had noticed the Doctor approaching. "You see that man over there?" he indicated to the now vaguely recovered fisherman.

"Yes."

"His name's Douglass, can you get him back to town. And see if you can do something about getting him his boat back."

"Absolutely," he jumped up, excited to be included in this investigation by Haze and the Doctor.

"Bye Haze, I'll see you round." He left, half carrying Douglass back to town.

"Friend of yours?" asked the Doctor after Greg was gone.

"He's a subscriber to my site, he just happened to be at the camp sight. He may have been chasing aliens on his own."

"So what did you make of the Ka-Tor? How was your first abduction?"

"The abduction was OK, don't trust that General Zem as far as I can throw him, and he was twice my size."

"Oh really, why not?"

"Well for starters anyone who announces that they're government is democratic or that their leader is benevolent is usually lying."

The Doctor smiled, he's misjudged her actions on the ship, he knew of the Ka-Tor and their unsavory reputation, "Go on."

"Well since I didn't trust them, I knew we had to get off that ship, so making a deal seemed like the best way. I intend to find those refugees, but I have no intention of handing them over to who I can only assume is an enforcer for a fascist regime. In fact..." she reached into her pocket and removed the communication device Zem had given her. She dropped it on the ground and raised her foot.

"Wait!" the Doctor shouted quickly, "We could still use that." He picked up the device and pocketed it.

"I even have one or two leads on where they might be hiding, so I say we head back to the camp, but first, breakfast."

--

The sun was almost up, but was hidden in the overcast skies. The town had yet to wake up, so Haze walked along hungrily devouring a low quality bacon and egg sandwich purchased at a 24 hour petrol station. "Protein," the Doctor had told her, "Best thing for recovery after a messy beaming experience." It seemed to her that recovering from an alien abduction wasn't too dissimilar from recovering from a night of heavy drinking, and so when they returned to her camper van she prepared her own personal hangover cure, a smoothie made with bananas, milk and eggs, among other things, and blended to perfection. As she downed the vile, but nonetheless effective concoction the Doctor looked on disapprovingly.

"I am continually amazed by what you're willing to put in your body. I approve of the bananas though, bananas are good."

"If it works then it works," she said, finishing the curative smoothie and moving on to coffee.

Once it was brewed Haze set up her laptop to show the research she had carried out the previous night.

"You see, once we learned that there was one ship already here I reasoned that whoever was on board may be living among us. I've seen it happen before so I started researching it, starting in this town and then moving in wider circles, looking for the tell tail signs. I did come up with quite a few potentials, but meeting the aliens really helped narrow things down," she showed the Doctor a newspaper picture from 2006, "Everyone was going a bit alien mad then, but whoever took this was onto something."

The picture wasn't of the highest quality but they could both make out an extremely tall man, totally devoid of hair.

"What do you think Doctor, Ka-Tor enough for you?"

"He would be our most likely candidate. Where is he now."

"They used to move around the area, like the travelers only without causing trouble. However given the recent alien threats things turned into a witch hunt against them. They've been moving further and further away since then. There's no way to know exactly where they are right now."

"They won't have gone far, their ship can still fly, which means that they have it on stand by so they can make a quick exit of needed. So we just need to perform a scan of the surrounding area."

"Just like that?"

"Watch and learn."

The Doctor produced the sonic screwdriver for some quick computer upgrades. He then proceeded to break encryption codes in record time and was able to pull up up to the minute satellite imagery of the surrounding area. "Don't worry, completely untraceable." he assured her. After a few minutes of scanning he confidently pointed to a small collection of caravans.

"There, got them!"

Haze scrutinised the map, "We're looking at an hour or two drive to the middle of nowhere, is that their idea of keeping their ship close?"

"Well, you have to remember that they traveled millions of light years to get here, what's a few miles after that?"

Haze nodded, he did have a point. With a destination in mind they climbed into the front of the camper and set off on their journey.

--

The journey was long, but uneventful. After almost two hours of driving the camper van pulled up to the encampment, miles away from anything resembling civilisation. It was small and basic, just three caravans, each towed by an aging but formidable looking land rover. Lines had been strung between the caravans and were being used for the purpose of drying washing, members of this camp appeared to favor boiler suits. As they approached the inhabitants of the camp disappeared back into the caravans, leaving a solitary Ka-Tor as an uninviting welcoming committee.

"We don't want any trouble," he said as the Doctor and Haze approached, "Just leave us in peace."

"I'm sorry, we don't have time to play games," the Doctor spoke before Haze could get a word out,

"There's a Ka-Tor ship in orbit looking for you."

--

The mention of Ka-Tor had changed things greatly for them. Once they realised that they were no threat the Doctor and Haze were invited into the lead caravan. They explained what had been happening and about their meeting with the intergalactic security officers the night before. Haze was keen to learn their story.

"I am Zic of the Ka-Tor," he began solemnly, "This is my wife Bik, my brother Aox and my son Tom. He was born on this world, so I gave him a human name in the hopes that he could better integrate into your society. But this world was not kind to us and we could only ever live on the fringes, occasionally trading precious stones for what we needed. We have been driven even further away in recent years, your race has not had much experience with life that is not from this world and most are not as open minded of you." His story then turned to how they had come to Earth in the beginning.

"I was once part of the Intergalactic Security Force, I even served under Zem for a while. But as a people we become notoriously xenophobic and hostile. When I refused to carry out a senseless execution I found myself marked for death, and so I fled here. I am accompanied by others like me, those who dared to defy the high command, but we were few. I had hoped I could hide my family on your world, I though we were safe, but it seems that after all this time they have not given up."

"Ka-Tor have long lives," said the Doctor in a serious tone, "That lends itself to long grudges. They need to make an example."

"So what will you do now?" asked Haze, genuinely concerned for their welfare.

"Move on," Bik spoke for the first time, her voice being the only thing that gave away her gender,

"Start afresh on a new world, if Zem knows we're here then he will scour this world looking for us."

"It may be too late," Aox spoke for the first time, "They have found us."

He indicated to an blinking red light which acted as an early warning system and then shot an accusing look towards Haze and the Doctor.

"There is no time for accusations," Zic was taking command of the situation, "We must flee."

--

They stepped out of the caravan to find the five other Ka-Tor from the camp assembled in the camp sight. The early warning system had proved ineffective, a disc shaped ship hovered over head. Four crew members formed a square around the camp preventing anyone from leaving. General Zem stepped forward to greet his prisoners.

"Sargent Zic, how nice to see you again," he sneered, "It's been a long time."

"Zem," he acknowledged, "As over zealous as usual I see."

"How did you find us?" Haze has been shocked at how quickly the ship had descended on them, believing them to be waiting for her signal.

"Implant," replied the general, "I never trust a lower species."

She instinctively reached up and felt the back of her neck, where she found a small, but obvious lump. "But, how?"

"Combining matter, part of the beaming process," explained the Doctor, and then turned to Zem,

"That's very irresponsible, you could have killed her!"

"My crew are good at what they do, besides, what's the death of one human to me. But my orders are very clear Doctor, and they do not concern you or your friend, so I give you a chance. This area needs to be sanitised, Leave now and your lives will be sparred."

"No!" Haze was defiant, she strode up to Zem, "I won't let you..."

Zem raised his hand and Haze stopped in her tracks. Spots began to appear in front of her eyes and she collapsed, every nerve ending in her body screaming. Each Ka-Tor soldier at the perimeter raised their gloved hands, preparing to unleash the devastating attack on the rest of the camp.

End of part 3


	6. Haze: Part Four

Haze

By Vanya

Part 4

The Doctor looked on in horror as Haze collapsed to the ground. As the perimeter guards raised their hands he felt a searing pain throughout his own body, and looking round the refugee Kar-Tor were being subjected to the same attack. _Think! _He commanded himself. The pain was intense. He thought back to the ship, the console had responded to Zem's presence, to his touch. _Electronic field manipulators_. Of course, the glove was capable of controlling electronic equipment, which also meant having a damaging effect on the body, all bundles of energy and firing neurones. His body was screaming, not long before he passed out. _Think!_ He needed to counter it, force a feedback, the sonic screwdriver wouldn't cut it, he needed something with the correct frequency. _The communicator!_ He quickly pulled the device from his pocket, performed a few hurried modifications and switched it on.

The effect was instantaneous. Zem screamed for a moment, and then his body went rigid and he collapsed where he stood and the perimeter guards suffered the same effects. The Doctor quickly rushed over to Haze and helped her to her feet.

"OK, what just happened?" she was recovering quickly from the attack.

"He was manipulating the electronic fields of your body, but not to worry, I just saved us all with this," he showed her the communicator, "And you wanted to break it."

"Sorry Doctor." she smiled sheepishly.

"Right, no time to stand around chatting, I'm not sure how long they'll be out for," Haze shot him a quizzical look, "What? This isn't an exact science, it's not as if I regularly take out soldiers with improvised weapons made from communicators."

Haze looked around. The presence of the ship meant the jeeps in the camp would be no use. She desperately hoped the effect was limited by the ship being stationary, and that her own camper van would be out of it's range. Only one way to find out.

"Everyone, with me!" she yelled, rallying the Ka-Tor refugees behind her. She dived into the front and fired up the engine while the Doctor guided the rest into the back. Meanwhile Zem and his soldiers had began to stir. He raised his hand towards the ship, and a brilliant light shone down from the ship and after a moment all had vanished.

--

Haze put the camper into gear flawed the accelerator. It had not been designed for defensive driving or swift getaways, but she was prepared to put it to the test, and right now she needed to put was much distance between them and the ship as possible. Thanks to the Doctor's 'repairs' the van was able to reach a top speed that most campers can only dream of. She sped off down the road, but fast as she was the Ka-Tor ships was catching up.

--

The Doctor was stuck in the back, being thrown around along with the refugees. He quickly glanced around, there must be something he could use against them. A voice broke through the chaos.

"Doctor," one of the Ka-Tor approached him.

"Aox isn't it?"

"That's right. Before I was forced to leave I was an engineer, I know how to stop that ship."

"What do you need?"

"The communication device and that microwave."

--

Haze continued to drive at top speed down the narrow country roads, the camper coming dangerously close to tipping at each corner. The ship grew closer and closer as it pass effortlessly over the trees.

--

The Doctor and Aox quickly stripped the microwave down and began cobbling the vital parts together with the communicator. With the fear of death from above modifications were completed in record time.

--

She had driven well, but Haze's luck had just run out. The ship was baring down on her and had gotten close enough to affect technological disruption. The engine simply cut out, she fought to keep control of the van and jammed down hard on the break, but missed a tricky corner and the van rolled onto it's side and plowed into a nearby tree.

--

All the passengers were shaken by the crash. Aox clutched the device close to him, shielding it from any harm. He stood up, his injured family strewn all around him, and he knew what he had to do. He looked down at Zic, fighting to stay conscious and trying to reach his wife and son. "Good bye brother" he said solemnly, before punching through glass window that was now above him and hauling himself out.

--

Once he was out he hit the ground and he ran. He didn't get far, he new that he wouldn't. He had barely gotten a few yards when the a light shone down from the ship and took him from where he stood.

--

General Zem was waiting in the transportation chamber. He shook his head disapprovingly.

"Aox, did you really think that you could run from me? You always were a coward."

But Aox smiled, "You underestimate me, and you underestimate the people below. Did you know that they have mastered microwaves?"

The general hurriedly raised his hand to attack, but it was too late. Aox activated the device.

--

Watching the ship from the ground it was not obvious what had happened, that a fatal blow had been struck. But after a moment the ship tilted and then all the technological forces that were keeping it in the air simply cut out. The ship went down, crashing messily into the forest. For now, the ordeal was over.

--

The Doctor climbed out of the overturned van and rushed round to the front. Haze had come out of the accident remarkably unscathed, suffering only a minor bump to the head . The Doctor helped her out and showed her the crashed ship.

"It's over," he said, "And incidentally, I owe you a new microwave."

"Forget the microwave, I need a new van," she pulled out the remains her mobile, "And a new phone."

The Doctor put his hand into his coat, reaching for his sonic screwdriver, before deciding it was a lost cause.

--

The refugees had managed to pull themselves out of the wreckage. The Doctor and Haze approached Zic. Reaching up, the Doctor put his hand on the Ka-Tor's shoulder.

"I'm sorry about your brother, but he saved us all."

"When we left we were branded as cowards." Zic had tears in his eyes, from the pain of the loss, but also from admiration for his brother, "People like Zem do not understand the meaning of courage."

Unable to find words of comfort Haze threw her arms round the grieving alien, although he towered over her he gently reached down and patted her on the back.

--

Haze had been able to retrieve her laptop, thankfully undamaged from the wreckage before the whole party set off back towards the nearest town. The journey took the rest of the day, many of the Ka-Tor were nursing minor injuries and Zic was forced to carry his son the whole way. As they arrived back at the town dusk was beginning to set in. A crowd of people gathered to watch as the strange precession of humans and aliens walked right through the town, eventually gathering on the cliff side.

"Thank you for you help Doctor, and thank you Haze." Zic shook both their hands one last time. He removed a small device from his pocket and turned it on. The ship which had been lying dormant on the sea bed for so many years began to rise from it's resting place. It came to a stop hovering just above their heads.

"Is that still OK to fly?"asked the Doctor, "I've been down there, the computers weren't what you'd call operational."

"Of course," Zic indicated to an object that was hanging round his neck, the missing and vital component from the computer core, "Aox was a genius, we always planned for this. The ship is still spaceworthy."

"But what will you do now?" inquired Haze.

"Move on. General Zem may be dead but others will come, we need to go where they cannot find us," Bik surveyed the area one last time, "I will not miss this world, humanity was not welcoming to us. But you Haze McCall give us hope that your race can be better. Humans may one day be welcomed into the wider universe, but that day is still far off, farewell."

The light shone down from the ship and all the refugees were beamed on board. It hung in the air while the necessary repairs were made before disappearing into the sky.

--

General Zem's ship lay where it had crashed, it's inhabitants dead and it's systems destroyed. A black Mercedes pulled up and parked next to Haze's wrecked camper van. The car was followed by an articulated lorry and van, both black and unmarked. Two men in black suits stepped out of the car and started to direct the workers that accompanied them Using hight tech cutting tools the the ship was dismantled and the debris and bodies loaded into the back of the lorry. The ship's drive, the only part to survive in tact, was loaded into the van, and then all three vehicles departed, leaving only a smoking crater.

--

The Doctor and Haze walked back through the town stopping at the first phone box so she could contact the breakdown service and arranged for the van to be returned to her parents in Edinburgh. After that they settled in the bar of a nice hotel for a drink. The Doctor explained to her that it would be impossible to remove the implant, the matter combination process had fused it permanently to her spine, he could only deactivate it. Haze agreed, and it was performed quickly in a back room. After, she set up her laptop and was typing up the report of what had happened. She was frustrated to find that the recording she had made on the ship had been reduced to static by the interference the Ka-Tor technology.

"Spreading the truth I see." said the Doctor with a smile.

"People need to know what happened out there, spaceships over Scotland, Ka-Tor security forces hunting refugees, that crash in the woods. When word of this gets out everyone will be crying for an explanation, and I am the only one who can provide it. Zic and his people have moved on, but their story needs to be told. The only way humanity will improve, is if we can understand what's out there and stop being afraid of it. But Don't worry Doctor, I've left your name off it."

Feeling that she had earned some rest and comfort, the Doctor secured her a room at the hotel. After years of living out of a camper van she was glad of even one night of luxury. She had not wanted to let the Doctor out of her sight, but after everything that had happened she accepted the hospitality and succumbed to sleep.

--

When Haze came down early the next morning she had expected the Doctor to have disappeared, like so many witnesses had told her he did. But he sat in the lobby, waiting for her. She couldn't believe her luck. They left the hotel and began walking back towards the camp site.

"So what will you do now?"

"Probably go home, see my family, then once I get the camper back go on the road again. There's a

lot going on out there."

"Fancy a lift?"

"Absolutely, the trains are an absolute nightmare," she felt bad about deceiving the Doctor, but after all this time couldn't admit that she'd been lying, "What do you drive?

"It's a little more complicated than that," and then the Doctor decided it was finally time to bring up the subject, "You have another option you know?"

"Oh?"

"Well, you don't have to go straight home, you could sort of travel around with me for a bit."

Haze's heart was racing, "Really?"

"Of course, you were brilliant back there, and you have all the traits I admire, bravery, honesty, curiosity, integrity, honesty...

Haze hung her head in shame, she too knew what she had to do.

"I'm sorry Doctor, I should have said something sooner. I know who you are, I know you're not Mi5, or even human, I've heard all about who you are and what you do."

He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, "There, doesn't that feel better."

There was a stunned silence, finally Haze spoke up, "You knew?"

"Of course, you've been chasing aliens for the last five years, I'd be insulted if my name hadn't come up in your search. Plus I've been to your website."

"But why didn't you say anything?"

"I was enjoying it," he said with a laugh, "I wanted to see how far you'd go before you let slip how much you knew. I have to say I'm impressed you got through the whole encounter."

"So I can still come?"

"Of course, I meant everything I said about you. You know your aliens, you're pretty good in a crisis and behind the wheel. I only take the best, and you Haze McCall are more than qualified."

--

They had walked across the campsite and stood in front of a blue police box which was parked in a nearby field.

"Here we are, welcome to the TARDIS, time and relative dimension in space. It can take you anywhere you want to go, anywhere in the universe at any point in history."

"Time machine, I _knew_ it. That's why theres so many references to you throughout history, you can appear anywhere. Are there more of you, or just the one?"

All of a sudden the Doctor became serious, "There's just me." After which Haze decided not to pursue the questioning.

"Well come on then," said the Doctor, perking up again, "Anywhere you want to go, just name it."

"You mean I get to choose?"

He laughed, "Of course, we both now you'd end up choosing anyway."

Haze thought for a moment, "Well there is something I've always wanted to see..."

"That's the spirit, come on." and with that he opened the doors of the TARDIS and led her inside. A wheezing and groaning noise filled the air and the box vanished from where is was standing.

End


End file.
